Sunday, December 18, 2005

Yerushalayim recieved plenty of rain over Friday night. As a result, the field at Ramat Eshkol was not playable on Saturday night, so Derech Etz Chaim's game was postponed. No make-up date has been scheduled yet.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Derech Etz Chaim is now 0-5 and in 23rd place in the Saturday Night Division. The team has been eliminated from the bowl game qualifying-round. After their sixth game this weekend, the team's remaining games will be against teams who are of the worst 20 in the league.

DEC's upcoming schedule includes a game in Week 8 against Waxman Warriors, followed by two consecutive bye weeks.

The team would like to wish a tzeischem l'shalom to team captain, Moshe Franklin, who is going back to America on Sunday to begin his studies at Lander College for Men.

So far, Isaac Manaster has raised 25 shekels for tzedakah through his "I-Sack For Tzedakah" promotion. If you would like to donate 5 shekels to tzedakah for every sack that Isaac records this season, please email isackfortzedakah@gmail.com.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Derech Etz Chaim played another exciting game on Saturday night against Olive at Kraft Stadium. The team was trying to win their first game of the season. Olive gained possesion after DEC failed to score on 4th-and-goal. They put together a drive that culminated in a touchdown, giving them a 6-0 lead.Later in the first half, DEC tied the game when quarterback Betzalel Gersten threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide-reciever Elan Noorparvar. On the extra-point attempt, Gersten found Noorparvar in the back of the end zone, giving DEC a 7-6 halftime lead. It was DEC's first lead since Week 1.

After recieving the kickoff, the offense was able to push the ball downfield. The drive was capped with a touchdown. Wide-reciever Max Gornish caught Gersten's tipped pass, doing so for the second consecutive game.

Up now by seven points, the defense still had alot of work ahead of them. Olive scored another touchdown with four minutes remaining in the game. The defense did not allow Olive to score on the extra-point attempt, retaining a 13-12 lead.

The offense had an opportunity to run out the clock by gaining a couple of first-downs, but was forced to a 3-and-out, giving the ball back to Olive with a minute remaining.By then, the momentum had shifted towards Olive, allowing them to pull-off this last-minute drive. The drive ended in a touchdown, giving Olive an 18-12 lead with 20 seconds on the clock. Although there was enough time for a few plays, the offense could not come up with an answer, adding one more loss to their already frustrating season.The offense had plenty of time to put the game out of reach. Their play after reaching 1st-and-Goal had improved in the last few games, but this week they scored just once in three chances. They could have won or tied if they had converted on one more of those chances.Even so, the defense was playing well enough for the first three-quarters of the game for them to win by scoring just 13 points. Why the defense couldn't maintain their level of play for the last quarter of the game we will never know. Both units continue to play very well, but not for the duration of the game. How to fix this problem has been the mystery of the season.The video crew didn't have any problems this week. We hope you'll enjoy the highlights we've prepared.